Flame: Creative Children's Ministry

This is a resource I have created while putting together my book on introducing Holy Communion to under 5s. More will follow in due course on that subject! Anyway, this is a very simple idea prompted by a remark on this blog's Facebook page.  Thanks Nicole Hall for telling me about having placemats with prayer prompts on them so that children could join in with prayers over mealtimes! The idea with this placemat is that you print it off and laminate it so that a child can use it on the table and it can easily be wiped clean. The first time you use it, talk about the different pictures and what they symbolise. When you come to pray before you eat, ask your child to choose one or two of the pictures and to thank God for that thing. For example, if they choose the 'drink' picture, they might thank God for their favourite drink or for what they are going to drink at the table.  Gradually they will build up the repertoire of what they want to say thank you for! ...

We've recently been investigating how we can include and engage younger children in our worship on a Sunday morning because we really want everyone to be a part of what is happening. While we have a selection of flags that the children can dance to the music with, the only space that allows this is at the back of church. Because we don't want to relegate the children, by default, to the back, we have hit upon creating a 'pray-ground' or interactive space for them at the front of church, where they can be involved in a variety of worship focussed activities while the service is going on.  If you want to find out more about 'pray-grounds,' look at t his great post by Traci Smith. Because we want to make it clear to everyone how valued the children are, one of the clergy or leaders will often sit in the pray ground while sung worship is happening or during the sermon, so that they can interact with the children and take part in what they are doing. Each ...